Saturday, July 2, 2011

Blog 14

Wednesday, 29 June
We left Lakeside to our cousins, and, as it turned out, to more cousins than any of us had imagined. Just as I was preparing this blog, Lenore and Neil sent me an email saying that their son Chris and family, had notice that a Bruce McIntosh was also registered at East Harbor State Park but hadn't realize it was us! Had we known, we could have had an even greater party! Life is full of surprise and disappointments. It's necessary to keep the universe in balance.
The first stop was at the Ohio Genealogical Society Library in Belleville, Ohio. There Valerie found that her ancestors Henry & (Sarah Alspach?) Spade and other family member were buried in the Werner Church Cemetery in Walnut Township, Pickaway County, Ohio. She found lots of “itty bitty things” that help to bring the family together.
We then spent the evening talking with Lenore and Neil. They are an amazing couple; well read, talented artistically, and thoroughly entertaining and intellectually stimulating. It is through Lenore that I discovered my Ohio cousins, and I will always be grateful for that one simple element. I'll tell the tale one more time, perhaps for the first time in writing.
Ten or fifteen years ago, shortly after returning from our first trip to Scotland, I wrote a form letter with a stamped, self-addressed card to all twenty-four Andrew McIntoshes in the U.S. who were listed in a book I had purchased. Most of the few who bothered to reply indicated that there was little likelihood that they were related to me, and one tried to sell me somethingall's fair in love and genealogy. One of the Andrews, on the other hand, thought to himself, “I don't know anything about my relatives, but my mother does genealogy; I'll send it to her.” And he did. His mother, Lenore McIntosh, replied to my note, gave me the name and address of Phebe Zimmerman, among others, and the rest is history.

Thursday, 30 June
After breakfast while I continued the conversations with Neil & Lenore, Valerie drove off to the Ohio Historical and Genealogical Society in Columbus, a short distance away, to dig deeper into her Spade ancestry. Among other things, she found a transcript recording the death and burial records for Jacob and Elizabeth Spade in the Zion's Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery in Washington Township, Pickaway County.
We all finished off the day with a lovely dinner out and, of course, more conversations.

Neil & Lenore McIntosh
Friday, 1 July
We said farewell to Neil & Lenore McIntosh, and headed south on I-71 and then on US 23 to Walnut & Washington townships. We were looking for some of Valerie's ancestors, especially Jacob Spade and his wife Elizabeth (Valerie had just found Elizabeth's first name two days before and is yet to find her maiden name). It's easier looking for dead relatives rather than living ones, for, unlike living relatives, the dead don't often move. However, cemeteries are sometimes abandoned and headstones are often made illegible by weather and other natural causes and vandalism. Also, they often fall over and, if neglected, are gradually swallowed up by the earth. We found the Werner Church (in a much delappedated state) and cemetery and located the stones marking the burial of Henry and Rosannah Spade and other family members. There may have been more buried under the sod.




Werner Church
After unsuccessfully searching for the Zion Church Cemetery we went to Circleville. There, while I walked Henrietta, Valerie went to the Pickaway County Historical & Genealogical Society Library. There, with the help of an exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful staff, she struck pay-dirt. One of the bits she found was the location of the cemetery where Jacob and Elizabeth Spade were buried. She also found the certificate for the marriage of Michael Pletcher & Susanna Spade, an inventory for Jacob Spade's estate, and other legal papers relating to his death. With all this new information we headed out to find the cemetery and hopefully their stones.
Now, the dead may not often move but the years have a way of hiding them. The stones marking their graves are frequently worn by the weather making them difficult or impossible to read; or they may be broken by weather, trees or vandals, and those knocked over are gradually swallowed by the earth.
After the first round of reading the stones in the yard, it appeared that we would be out of luck. But when we have time we like go around again looking especially for the broken and buried bits. I returned to a stack of miscellaneous fragments and got lucky. At the bottom of the stack was a stone, partially buried in a layer of turf. It was legible enough to suggest that the name might be Elizabeth.
Time to get down and dirty, and while I was digging, Valerie discovered that, with a little bit of cleaning, a nearby upright stone with an inscription we had previously thought too difficult to read was the stone for Jacob Spade. I eventually unearthed Elizabeth's stone. These were, without doubt, the graves of Valerie's ancestors, and perhaps the most significant genealogical find of the trip.

 
 In memory of
Elizabeth
Spade,
wife of
Jacob Spade, who
departed this life
March 10, 1845, aged
77 Y[ears], 2 M[onths], & 14 days.

Weep not my dearest friends
Nor shed your tears in vain.
My face you'll see no more
Till called to rise again.


Jacob's stone iwas engraved in German with Germanic block-text type. If I were close to a German dictionary I might be able to copy it here in the original. Instead, here it is in an English translation.

Jacob
Spade
10 October 1829
aged 65 years, 1 month, 27
days.

Exhausted, and now behind schedule, we sped off to what was to have been our next campsite but instead was to be our room in the Blue Licks State Resort Park Very comfortable and expensive. And because we were so late we picked up pizza. We both slept very well.

Saturday, 2 July
The thick curtain blocked the light of morning, and I slept until 7:30unusual for me. After breakfast, I spent too long trying to work out the rest of the day, and suddenly it was time to go to Historic Washington, where an Allen ancestor of Valerie's had lived in the late 18th century. She had arrange for a tour, and so off we went. The tour was OK but the houses were wonderful. There were even some original log houses. 



From Washington we went back to Maysville where Valerie researched in the historical library and I took care of Henrietta, looked for Propane, searched for a place to spend the night, and then to get groceries. I failed in all but where to spend the night. Henrietta might also say I failed in my care-taking of her, but while she got the short end of the shift, she was not neglected. And here I am writing to you all in Indian Springs Campground in North Bend, Ohio. We still need propane and groceries.
Good night,
Bruce

Stones in the Werner Church Cemetery

Spade stone in Werner Church Cemetery.

Spade stone in Werner Church Cemetery.
Spade stone in Werner Church Cemetery.

Spade stone in Werner Church Cemetery.

Bruce excavating the Elizabeth Spade stone.



Interior of Werner Church. Sanctuary.
Interior of Werner Church. Entrance.

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